Robert Franks photography book The Americans (1958) changed the world’s approach of Americans and art photograph. The video is about the exhibition of photographs from the American and the ones that did not make it into publications. The photographs were artistic, bleak, and political along with lonely and honest.
I believe Robert Franks captured Americans in a flawless way without staging any moments. His pictures were about ordinary people who went about their everyday lives after World War 2. Franks being Swiss-born gave us an outsider’s viewpoint of how Americans see themselves and lived. The photographs he shot showed class division of rich and poor and racism in the 1950’s. His goal was to capture the true America and I believed he achieved it. He captured a side of America which was not seen by the world. His photographs spoke volumes, told us stories and left us with a lot of questions.
Many of his photographs have captured the American flag which tells us that people have a deep passion and care about the country. The most interesting and fascinating photograph was the one of the black women holding the white baby. The curator Peter Galassi tells us how Frank’s could not understand how a white southern lady would entrust her baby to the care of a black woman and yet not sit next to her at the lunch counter. Frank captures the baby and the woman very artistically and real. He showed the world real America in the 1950’s.
